POLICE have warned of the dangers of sleep-starved motorists getting behind the wheel in the wake of a horrific crash that claimed the life of a recovery driver.

Susan Lowe, 62, dozed off on her way home from a music convention in Bournemouth, mounted the verge at up to 50mph and smashed into a broken down Peugeot that Terry Booth was trying to repair.

Mr Booth, 58, who lived at Ferndown, died from multiple injuries at the scene of the crash on the east bound section of the A31 at Poulner, near Ringwood, in June of last year. He was understood to have been standing between the Peugeot and his recovery truck.

The widow, who lives in Leeds, was convicted of causing death by dangerous driving and yesterday was jailed for two years.

Throughout the sentencing hearing, she sat with her head down in the dock at Southampton Crown Court and heard Judge Christopher Leigh QC say he accepted the prosecution’s account she had fallen asleep.

Jurors heard Lowe had almost 600 metres visibility and Mr Booth had done everything he could to ensure approaching drivers were aware of the vehicle.

The judge told Lowe: “I don’t think that when you set out, you realised you were as tired as you were.”

In mitigation, Charles Gabb said she had driven for 40 years, sometimes more than 40,000 miles a year, without previous blemish.

After the hearing, Sgt Mal Rigby, the senior officer in the case, said her conviction was a warning of the danger of driving while tired.

Following the verdict, Mr Booth’s partner, who did not wish to be named, said of him: “I just want people to know Terry was a genuine, lovely person who tragically died doing the job he loved, which was helping people.”

She did not want to comment afterwards.